Practices in Northern Ireland are being overwhelmed by patients “kept in the dark” about their place on the region’s record waiting lists, according to an official report.

Many of those on the region’s lists do not even know whether they are on it – and do not know if their case is routine or urgent. Nor do they have any indication when they might receive treatment, according to the Northern Ireland Public Service Ombudsman Margaret Kelly. More than 100,000 people are waiting for procedures in the region while another 400,000 are waiting for outpatient appointments.

Kelly said the regional Department of Health set out procedures for communicating with patients about waiting lists in 2006 – but these are often not followed. Nor does the region have an agreed approach to communication, she found.

Kelly said: “I understand that the healthcare system is still recovering from the impact of Covid and that frontline health staff are working incredibly hard to provide care in a difficult situation, but it is clear that the issue of increasing waiting lists has been ongoing for close to a decade. It is even more important in the context of our lengthy waiting lists that people have the information they need to either ‘wait well’ or make informed choices. On the basis of repeated failures in communication in many parts of the system, I make an overall finding of systemic maladministration, and would urge the Department to work more cohesively with the Trusts, GPs and patient representatives to address the need for improvement.”

Dr Alan Stout, British Medical Association GP committee chair in the region, said the waiting list system was “unnecessarily complex” and led to practice time being wasted as patients sought to establish what was happening.